


Discovering Dads

by meyari



Category: DCU - Comicverse, Smallville
Genre: Child Abandonment, Child Abuse, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-31
Updated: 2012-12-31
Packaged: 2017-11-23 03:59:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/617849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meyari/pseuds/meyari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When orphan Conner Smith starts developing powers out of nowhere, he enlists his best friend's help in figuring out what's going on. The path to understanding his powers leads to discoveries about his past that stun him, as well as to revelations about his parentage that almost make him wish he'd left well enough alone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Discovering Dads

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Tallihensia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tallihensia/gifts).



> This story was written for lj user tallihensia for the Hurricane Sandy relief effort. It's the second of three unrelated stories that I'll be writing and I have to say that this one was a ton of fun to write. XD The prompt was _"Conner Smith was raised in an orphanage. When he starts developing powers, he starts looking for the parents he never knew. His search turns up an old kidnapping and some very odd conclusions. Soon, his two dads are fighting over him and Conner's just not sure what to make of *that*."_ AU where Conner grows up in Gotham with Colin Wilkes and Tim Drake is a go! Hope everyone likes the story!

"Conner! Get up!"

The distant words drifted through Conner's head. He mumbled 'five more minutes' and rolled over only to smack his hand against something hard and cold. When he opened his eyes, Conner found himself touching the light fixture on the roof of his bedroom. Three blinks later Conner woke up enough to realize that a) that really was his light, b) that meant that he was somehow on the ceiling and c) holy shit, ceiling? Conner yelped as the sensation of floating disappeared and he plummeted to the floor next to his bed. 

"Conner?" Colin asked, his voice sharp as he flung open the door to stare at him, his teddy bear Rory dangling from one hand. He grinned when he saw Conner sprawled on the floor. "I guess you are up. Hurry up. You're going to be late for breakfast."

"Uh, sorry?" Conner said, staring at the boy who was the next best thing to a brother that Conner had.

"Come on," Colin laughed. "It's time to get up. They're already putting breakfast out."

"Right, I'll be down quick," Conner replied.

Conner broke another handful of teeth off his comb in his scramble to get ready for breakfast. As it was he barely had time to inhale his food before he had to run for the door in time to meet Tim. He would never figure out what a rich smart kid like Tim was doing at Conner's crappy public school but it was nice having someone to be friends with. Growing up in an orphanage hadn't given Conner the social skills he needed in society, especially since the orphanage was in Gotham's Narrows, but it didn't seem to matter with Tim. They were friends, no matter what came their way.

"You look rattled," Tim commented as Conner ran up. "Something wrong?"

"Um, maybe?" Conner said. He looked over his shoulder to make sure no one was watching or listening. No one was. Colin was still in grade school so they were pretty much alone. None of the other people on the street looked at all interested in two teenagers on their way to school. "I think, well, I kind of know that I'm, um, a Meta."

"What?" Tim asked, startled enough that his normally controlled expression disappeared into blatant shock.

"There are all these little things that keep happening," Conner explained in a low voice. "I keep breaking things at the orphanage and sometimes I hear stuff that I shouldn't be able to. And last week I thought I saw through a wall except when I blinked I couldn't see anything. This morning I woke up on the ceiling, Tim. Something's going on and I don't know what to do."

Tim frowned at Conner, catching his arm to keep him from heading across the street when the light changed. He stared up at Conner, one of those intense frowns that said he was trying to figure out something really tough on his face. After a moment Tim nodded and pulled Conner away from the path to school. Conner spluttered, letting Tim drag him away but not sure that it was a good idea to do so. Taking care of Colin had meant missing way too many days of school already.

"What?" Conner asked. "What do you want to do? Where are we going?"

"We need to do some research," Tim explained. "I'll send a text message in excusing both of us. It should be okay."

"Dude, no one cares if I skip," Conner said with a little snort of amusement. "You, sure, but not me. The orphanage would probably be happy if I ran away."

He winced at Tim's hurt look but it was the truth. Conner was fourteen and well beyond the age where he'd ever be adopted. Even Colin was probably going to go without a family and he wasn't even eight yet. His behavioral issues weren't what adopting parents wanted. That was part of why they'd become so close. Conner understood what Colin was going through and they both wanted as much of a family as they could get. Taking care of each other filled the need well enough for now.

Conner and Tim went to Tim's house. His parents were out of town again, off on some trip to another part of the world. It always bugged Conner that Tim got left home alone this way but Tim didn't seem to think that there was anything wrong with it. From what Conner could see, Tim accepted that his parents wouldn't be around most of the time without complaint. They ended up in Tim's bedroom with cookies from Mrs. Mac, the housekeeper, who promised to call in for Tim. Conner nibbled on the cookies while Tim worked on his computer.

"What are you looking for?" Conner asked.

"Well, I did a lot of research on you when we first met," Tim said as if that was a perfectly normal thing for someone to do. "There's no record of who your parents were or where you're from."

"Nope, and just so that you know, Dude? That's kind of creepy, you know, in a stalker sort of way," Conner said. He grinned and ducked away from Tim's glare. "It is! Most people don't find it necessary to do research on the people they meet. They just ask questions, you know."

"Fine, be that way," Tim huffed. His cheeks were red but he didn't look at all apologetic about the stalking thing. "Anyway, once I got to know you I stopped researching but maybe I shouldn't have. Kids do get abandoned in Gotham, in any big city, but not normally the way you were."

Conner nodded at that. From what the nuns had told him when he was younger, Conner had been found wandering around naked with IV needles stuck in his arms. Given that he'd been all of about three years old and it was the middle of one of the worst winter storms the East Coast had had in decades that was significant. Add in the huge, fiery crash of LuthorCorp trucks that had happened just a couple of blocks away and it was a pretty cool story, not that it revealed anything about who Conner's parents were.

He'd never been able to find a link between himself and the crash. Conner was of the opinion that he'd been kidnapped by drug runners or something and that he'd managed to slip away during the crash and everything that happened afterwards. Granted, there wasn't any proof of that but it made more sense than any of the theories that Colin had come up with.

"So what were you researching?" Conner asked while rubbing the tiny scars on his wrists and neck that marked where the IVs had been. "I mean, I had to have been sick or something what with the IV's. A connection to the people killed in the crash?"

"Not exactly," Tim said. "I think you might have been in the crash, Conner."

He pulled up a series of reports that absolutely could not have been obtained legally that showed not only that the trucks had been carrying 'genetically modified material' for a 'alien genetics research program' but that they'd been shielded by lead and there were large quantities of some mineral involved. It was listed by its chemical composition, not by its name, so Conner had no idea what it actually was. Conner stared at the screen for a moment before turning to Tim for an explanation.

"Genetically modified material is probably code for 'clones', Conner," Tim explained with a not patient at all sigh. "The lead shielding is suggestive by itself but the kryptonite is very indicative."

"What?" Conner gasped. "Wait, that's kryptonite? You mean they cloned Superman? Dude! That's huge! Why haven't you told anyone?"

"I did," Tim said. "I can't tell you who or how, but I did. It's all still being researched. Lionel Luthor destroyed all records of the research program that he could get to before he died so it's slow-going. Between Lionel's battles with Lex Luthor and Lex's battles with Superman there's not much to go on, unfortunately."

"Wait," Conner said as his brain caught up to what Tim was implying. Tim stared at him so blankly that it made Conner's heart crawl into his throat. "You… think I was in the crash. You said that. And they were possibly-probably transporting Superman's clone. And that means that you think I'm…"

His voice broke so badly on the last word that Conner stopped talking and clamped a hand over his mouth. Tim sighed and nodded. He looked as uncomfortable with the whole situation as Conner felt. Conner whined and slumped in his chair, waving for Tim to get back to his research. The next several hours was quiet, filled with Conner munching whatever Mrs. Mac would give him and Tim working away at his computer. By the time the afternoon rolled around Conner was pretty sure that Tim was right.

The whole accident had happened because someone, Tim couldn't figure out who, had tried to break into the truck as it was traveling through Gotham. Somehow he'd managed to get really old, seriously grainy security camera footage showing the accident. Well, sort of. It showed isolated frames with the trucks rolling by and then it showed the beginnings of an explosion and then several seconds later it showed the whole street engulfed by fire to the point that the snow on the ground turned to steam and blocked any further images.

There weren't any frames that showed who'd actually attacked or how Conner could have gotten out but the location of the explosion was literally less than a block and a half away from where Conner had been found. More revealing, there had been a LuthorCorp employee, a woman, found dead from the fire half a block away from where Conner's trail had started. 

Even Conner could fill in those blanks. Someone had attacked the convoy. The woman had snatched Conner and run for it but the explosion got her before she got very far. She stumbled to the opening of the alley and Conner had toddled on from there. The rescue workers that found him the next morning had assumed that he'd only just escaped or run away given that he'd been naked, but if Conner actually was Superman's clone then spending the night naked in the snow might not be that big of a deal. He never had minded cold all that much.

"I'm a clone?" Conner finally asked. "I'm Superman's clone?"

"Maybe," Tim said. "You said that you'd had problems with strength, vision and then flying. There are other Metas with those powers but none that would have had any interaction with LuthorCorp. I think there's one way to be sure, if you're willing to try it."

"Um, sure," Conner said. "What is it?"

"I bought a piece of kryptonite a while ago," Tim said and then sighed as Conner glared at him. "I was researching Superman and, well, that seemed important. I can't think of any more effective test, Conner. It's very small and I've got it in a lead box. If you react to it then I think it's probably true. If not, then we're on the wrong track."

Conner stared at him for a long while, trying to sort out what he was feeling and failing. Having Superman for a dad was pretty cool but Conner didn't really want a superhero's life. He'd always wanted a nice quiet home life with lots of friends and family. Living in Superman's Fortress of Solitude sounded awful. But there were also his brand new powers. Superman would be able to help him figure out how to use them.

It wasn't like Tim could help him learn how to do this stuff. If Superman was actually his father then it made sense that he could train Conner. One way or the other, he really needed to know who and what he was. Trying the Kryptonite would let him rule out one option.

"Okay, do it," Conner sighed. "This so sucks, man."

"I know," Tim agreed.

The lead box Tim pulled out of his desk drawer was barely an inch square. He offered it to Conner who bit his lip. It wasn't heavy or anything; it was just the promise of an actual father coupled with the potential pain that made Conner wish that he'd never said anything this morning. When he carefully opened the little box the chunk of green rock stayed dark for one second, two and then Conner dropped the box because holy shit, that hurt!

It felt like his blood started boiling and his hand cramped up. His head started pounding and Conner could have sworn that his heart skipped several beats. Tim gasped something that Conner didn't understand. He had to catch Conner because his whole body cramped as the kryptonite glowed more brightly, toppling him from his chair. The pain went away the instant Tim snapped the lid of the box shut though Conner kept shaking for a while longer. He'd never felt pain like that before and he really, really hoped he never did again.

"I guess that confirms it," Tim whispered.

"Uh, yeah Dude," Conner laughed or tried to anyway. It came out way too shaky for a proper laugh. "Man, I have no idea what to do now."

"Well, we need to contact Superman, probably Batman too," Tim said. He had the lead box clenched in his fist, glaring at his hand as if he wanted to destroy the little chunk of kryptonite. "Batman doesn't like having Metas in his town."

"Like I knew what I was!" Conner protested.

"No, not you," Tim snorted, distracted from his anger to chuckle at Conner's dismay. "Superman."

"Oh, right," Conner said. "So how do we do this?"

"I… may be able to figure something out," Tim said in that 'not going to tell you because it's sneaky and I don't want you to get in trouble with me' way that Conner hated.

Conner poked him in the shoulder, getting a rueful laugh. "You are not doing this alone, Dude. We're best friends. Other than Colin, you're all that I've got."

That made Tim blush so brightly that Conner almost felt bad about pulling that one out. Almost. Tim was nearly as alone as Conner was so he always reacted strongly to Conner saying things like that. They spent the time until dinner making plans for tomorrow after school. Conner wasn't sure how they'd catch Superman's attention or if Tim's thoughts of somehow intercepting Batman and Robin would work but it was better than nothing. He rode the bus back to the orphanage only to find that Colin had gotten in another fight. Colin's many battles against the other kids and teachers were a persistent problem that drove the nuns nuts, not that Conner cared what the nuns thought. Colin protected the other kids most of the time and he only acted out when someone was mean to him.

Conner made sure that Colin was okay before bedtime even though Sister Emily and old Sister Agatha pretty clearly had heard that he'd skipped school today. The glares they leveled on him were fierce enough that Conner kept his head down and did his homework without prompting. He even helped Colin with his homework, which did help keep the Ramirez twins off Colin until bedtime. What with everything he'd found out, Conner didn't expect to fall asleep quickly but he did. In fact he dropped off so quickly that Conner felt like he'd dropped into a pit. Morning came with Colin shaking Conner's shoulder to make him wake up.

"Conner! You gotta get up!" Colin said in the 'hurry, there's someone here to look for kids to adopt' voice.

"Mmngh," Conner grumbled into his pillow. "Not gonna want a teenager, Colin."

"He's looking for you, Conner!"

The words took entirely too long to soak into Conner's brain, long enough for Colin to start shaking him again. His powers mixed with Colin's words mixed with Tim saying something about notifying Batman during patrol and then he was rolling over to fling the covers aside so that he could grab the jeans that Colin already had waiting for him. Conner scrambled into his clothes as quickly as he could, hands shaking. Batman, maybe it was Batman downstairs in his secret identity but no that would be stupid. He'd send someone else to contact Conner. Or maybe it was Superman though Conner didn't think that he had a secret identity. He went around with a bare face so how could he live a normal life? Colin was right on his heels as he ran downstairs, so much so that he ran into Conner when he screeched to a stop at the bottom of the stairs.

Lex Luthor in a dark grey suit with a lavender shirt and deep purple tie stood talking to Sister Emily.

"Holy crap," Conner whispered.

"Go on," Colin hissed. "He said something about adopting you."

"Colin, go upstairs," Conner said. It came out in the 'trouble's about to happen and I don't want you caught up in it' voice.

"Huh?" Colin asked, startled.

It didn't matter though because Lex turned and smiled at Conner as if he'd been waiting for this day for years. His smile was weirdly honest, open and enthusiastic. Colin giggled next to Conner, clinging to his shirt and old jeans like the little monkey he was. When Conner glanced down at him Colin grinned.

"He smiles like you," Colin whispered in a totally awed voice. "That's your smile, the one when you're really super-duper happy."

"No way," Conner murmured, completely confused. Why would he have Lex Luthor's smile if he was Superman's son?

"Conner Smith, I presume?" Lex said as he came over to shake Conner's hand. Sister Emily stood behind him, smiling benignly but Conner could see the steel in her eyes telling him to be polite or else there'd be Hell to pay. "Who's this?"

"I'm Colin," Colin declared. "Are you Conner's dad? You two sort of look alike except Conner's got hair."

"Colin Wilkes!" both Conner and Sister Emily both snapped at him.

Colin winced and hid behind Conner, still clinging to his T-shirt. Only Rory's battered head showed when Conner looked at him. Sister Emily sighed and shook her head, reaching for Colin's arm even though grabbing him right now wasn't a good idea. He never reacted well when somebody scolded him and then tried to drag him away. The foster parents he'd had before coming to the orphanage had really done a number on him that way. Conner turned and scooped Colin up, hugging him tightly. The move prompted Lex to raise an eyebrow at Conner, especially as Colin hugged Conner's neck tightly enough that he had to tug at his arm a little to get air to breathe.

"They're very fond of each other," Sister Emily sighed as if it was a problem.

"He's like my little brother," Conner explained. "Colin's the closest I've got to family."

It came out way too hostile but Sister Emily didn't seem to see anything odd about that. Conner and Colin had been friends ever since Colin arrived at the orphanage a few years ago. Even as a four-year-old Colin had problems. He was terrified of enclosed places and bats, not to mention that he had horrible abandonment issues. His temper was nearly as bad as Conner's could be and Conner had gotten in way too many fights over the years over seriously stupid things.

"I see," Lex said.

Something about the way he looked at Conner and Colin together made Conner's heart flip. It was as though he was seeing a different pair of brothers by choice. When Lex turned to Sister Emily it was with a determined smile that promised retribution if he didn't get his way. Sister Emily turned her glare on Conner and Colin for a moment before smiling brightly at Lex.

"If it's possible, I'd like to adopt them both," Lex said. "I'd hate to separate the boys when they mean so much to each other."

Colin's delighted gasp matched Conner's shocked gasp. Neither of them was half as serious as Sister Emily stunned 'my God!' She nodded and in less than a minute Conner found himself in Sister Agatha's office with Lex filling out all the paperwork to take them home right away. Colin clung to Conner, sitting in his lap with Rory hugged to his chest to keep any of the sisters from taking his away to give to the other kids.

"This is real," Colin whispered to Conner. "We're really being adopted."

"I know," Conner whispered back. "But… why? Why not claim me earlier? Why bring you too?"

"Maybe he didn't know where you were?" Colin mused, watching Lex charm the nuns before looking up at Conner. "Maybe this will be okay?"

"Hope so, munchkin," Conner sighed. 

He hugged Colin. Anything that got Colin out of the orphanage and into a better home had to be good. Hopefully. At the very least, Lex probably had better medical care which might mean getting Colin's many issues looked at. Several hours later they were being shown around Lex's penthouse in Metropolis. It was huge, covering the entire top floor of the building. There was a pool and weight room, a game room full of the sort of stuff that Conner and Colin had only dreamed of before. Their bedrooms were right across from each other. Each one was twice the size of their whole dorm rooms back at the orphanage. Their handful of clothes were pathetic in the huge closets they now had.

By the time dinner rolled around, Colin was telling Lex everything about their lives other than his many fights but from the way Lex's bodyguards watched Colin it was obvious that they knew Colin fought a lot. The tall scary one named Mercy put on a not quite real smile when Lex suggested that she might teach Colin how to defend himself better.

"Really?" Colin gasped, staring up at Mercy. "That would be awesome! Conner's always protecting me but I want to be able to protect myself."

"It can be done," Mercy said with enough sternness that she might as well have been one of the really old-school nuns that wielded rulers like they were sword blades. "It isn't easy but if you work at it you can learn."

"Great!" Colin ran towards the gym, Mercy on his heels.

Conner waited until they were gone to push away his mostly untouched dessert. "Why bring us both here? Why not claim me years ago? I mean, you are my father, aren't you?"

"I didn't know where you were, Conner," Lex replied. "If I had I would have brought you home a long time ago. I tried… I tried. It didn't work out."

He stood and went to the big plate glass windows that looked out over the Daily Planet. Conner followed him. A tall man with dark hair was standing on the roof near the big Daily Planet globe looked back at him. They were far enough apart that Conner had no clue what he looked like other than the dark hair and glasses. Lex seemed to know him though because he stiffened and pulled the curtains shut, blocking the man's sight.

"What did you try?" Conner asked. "I mean, did my mom steal me from you or something?"

"No, that was my father," Lex grumbled, glaring at the window for a moment before looking at Conner again. "For a long time I wasn't even sure that you existed. Father hid… many things from me. It seems like I discover something new about his activities every single day. I honestly can't say that I was surprised to finally track you down though I never would have expected to find you in Gotham."

The look Lex gave Conner was enough like his own expression whenever he was desperately frustrated by something that Conner's inner certainty that he was Superman's son lurched. He sat down, staring at his hands as a horrible thought occurred to him. Tim had said that the trucks were carrying 'genetically modified material' for an alien research program. If Superman was the alien that Lionel had been researching then maybe 'genetically modified' didn't mean 'clone' as much as it did 'offspring'.

"Conner?" Lex asked as he put a carefully reassuring hand on Conner's shoulder.

"There was no mom, was there?" Conner whispered. "My batshit insane grandfather somehow captured Superman and spliced his data with yours to make some sort of clone or something and I'm the result."

Lex's sharp inhalation wasn't quite a gasp but it was really close to it. When Conner finally managed to lift his eyes from his white-knuckled fists, Lex's expression was sad and sympathetic as he nodded confirmation that Conner was right. Conner groaned and rubbed his face with both hands. He really should have let it go instead of telling Tim what had happened. Things hadn't been good before but now they looked like they would be completely crazy.

He hated the thought that he'd been created as some sort of experiment. It had been bad enough to think that he'd been abandoned in the middle of winter in one of Gotham's worst neighborhoods but at least Conner could let himself believe that there had been a few moments of love in his conception. But this way he was nothing more than cells that had outgrown their test tube, an accidentally released experiment. It sucked.

"I am sorry," Lex said sadly. "I didn't volunteer my DNA for my father's uses. From what little I could find of his notes, he fully intended to create a more… docile and compliant duplicate of me that could be used to replace me entirely. None of his children ever pleased him, sad to say."

"I have uncles? Aunts?" Conner asked, surprised enough that he looked up to meet Lex's eyes.

"An uncle," Lex confirmed, smiling at Conner once more. "His name is Lucas. He lives in France most of the time though I'm sure he'd be delighted to meet you. Does Colin know? I assume that you've… demonstrated some level of Meta ability."

"Sort of," Conner said. "I mean, Colin knows there's something going on but not exactly what. He's not dumb, just messed up. And yeah, there have been things happening."

"Did you tell anyone about it?" Lex asked just a bit too sharply for Conner to overlook it. He sighed and shook his head when Conner raised an eyebrow at him. "I am not popular with certain vigilantes, Conner. I'd hate for you to become a target because of your relationship with me."

That made more sense. Conner was well aware of the battles between Superman and Lex. The whole world knew about that. He'd never understood them before. There didn't seem to be any reason for Lex and Superman to hate each other but they fought all the time. Now the battles made a little more sense. If Superman blamed Lex for the experiments his father had done, then attacking Lex made sense. And if Lex thought Superman had made off with him somehow, then that made sense too. They blamed each other and without know what had happened to Conner, or more accurately to the lost experiment Lionel had conducted, they took their frustration out on each other.

Either way, Conner knew he was going to be smack in the middle of their personal little war very, very soon.

Still, Conner didn't want to rat Tim out as the person who'd helped him figure it out. He was Conner's only real friend. Telling on him seemed like a really bad idea, especially given that he was like one hundred percent certain that Tim had done some very illegal hacking to get the records they'd looked at. Before Conner could do more than open his mouth to deny that he'd told anyone alarms started going off. As the alarms whooped, Lex snarled. Lex's other bodyguard, Hope, ran in with a gun that made Conner shudder and moan in pain. The bullets had to be kryptonite. It felt like much stronger kryptonite than the shard that Tim had used on him.

"Hurts!" Conner gasped.

"Hope!" Lex snapped, his arms wrapped protectively around Conner's shoulders, not that it helped.

Somewhere in the distance he heard Colin scream over the sound of the alarms. He didn't have a chance to respond to that because the plate glass windows shattered inwards, the glass caught in the drapes for long enough that none of it sprayed around the room. The curtains sizzled and then burned in a flash of heat that made Lex and Conner both wince, revealing three people. Hope pointed her gun at the tall, dark haired man in the red and blue suit. Batman was on Superman's right, supporting him as he winced in the face of Hope's gun. Robin was on Superman's right. He reached out towards Conner just like Tim always did when something was going wrong and he needed to get away right then.

Robin. Tim.

Conner's breath caught as he realized that Robin had to be Tim. The build was the same, the hair, the face, everything. Even the desperately worried expression on Robin's face matched Tim's desperately worried look. His mask didn't hide that, not from Conner. There was no way that Tim could hide his identity from Conner. They knew each other far too well for that.

"Hurry!" Robin, Tim, snapped at Conner.

"Hope!" Lex bellowed over the alarms, Tim's voice, everything. "Put the gun away!"

The order startled Conner. It did more than startle Superman, Batman and Robin. They all stared at Lex as if he was someone else entirely taking Lex's place. Hope, on the other hand, calmly tucked her gun into her holster though her glare's intensity should have burned Superman to a crisp, just like the curtains had been. The pain from the kryptonite bullets immediately disappeared, letting Conner breathe a sigh of relief. Superman stood taller as well.

"Conner!" Colin wailed from the other end of the penthouse.

"Colin!" Conner yelled back.

He waved at Superman, Batman and Robin, Tim, before pulling out of Lex's arms to run to find Colin. To his relief Colin was safe with Mercy who put her gun away as soon as Conner reacted to the kryptonite bullets in it. Colin ran straight into Conner's arms, shaking like a leaf and hugging him desperately with Rory crushed between them. Mercy frowned, gazing over Conner's shoulder. When he turned around Lex was there with Superman, Batman and Tim, no Robin, on his heels.

"You kidnapped the boy too?" Batman snarled.

"He didn't kidnap us!" Colin huffed. "Lex adopted us! Both of us, so Conner and I wouldn't have to be separated. Not a kidnapping."

Colin's voice trailed off in the face of Batman's scowl. He started shaking as soon as he realized that he was looking at Batman, his fear of everything bat-related turning his face so white that his freckles looked painted on. Rather than let Colin go into a panic attack, Conner tucked him close and buried his face in his shoulder so that he would calm down.

"He really did," Conner said when Batman and Superman both scowled. "We watched him fill out all the paperwork."

"You'd pull two children into this, Luthor?" Superman demanded, a disapproving scowl on his face that was, unfortunately, a dead-ringer for Conner's 'I can't believe you did that, Colin' face.

"He's my son," Lex declared. "Conner deserves a proper home and I’m going to give it to him. Colin deserves a good home too."

Colin peeked out from Conner's shoulder, watching with wide eyes as the three adult superheroes argued about whether Lex had committed a crime by adopting them, whether Conner really was his son and whether Superman was an interfering busy-body. The argument seemed to help him deal with his fear, or maybe that was the way Conner rocked the younger boy and rubbed his back. Robin, Tim, came over to Conner and Colin's side, peering at Conner with not really concealed concern. He looked as though he wasn't sure what to do now that there didn't seem to be a crisis.

"You truly are okay?" Robin asked in Tim's voice.

"Worried and confused," Conner admitted in a low voice that Mercy still overheard. "But yeah. We're all right."

When Tim stared up at Conner as if he was trying to see straight into his soul, Colin gasped. He looked at Conner, tugging his shirt urgently. Tim had spent enough time around Colin that it didn't surprise Conner that he'd figured out Robin's secret identity immediately. Conner sighed and nodded that he knew, not that he could say it out loud with Mercy hovering behind their shoulders protectively. They might know but letting Mercy, Hope and Lex know that Tim was Robin was probably a really bad idea. If nothing else, it would probably piss Batman off.

They both turned back to Robin-Tim only to find him blushing brightly. Colin giggled and held out his arms for a hug that Tim, definitely Tim because Robin wouldn't ever be that awkward and shy, gave him. Colin tucked his face into Tim's shoulder just as he had with Conner. Rory dangled over Tim's shoulder, his battered bear face taking on a pleased look for once. From the tiny smile on Tim's lips, he didn't mind the hug at all. Tim always had seemed very fond of Colin.

"I can't believe you'd do this!" Superman yelled at Lex, pulling Conner's attention away from Tim. He waved at Conner as if he was something horrible that Lex had been hiding for years.

"I've told you before that I had nothing to do with it!" Lex yelled back. "Father stole my genetic data and yours. What he did with it had nothing to do with me, whatsoever. And stop acting as though our son is some sort of horrible mistake! He's a person and he deserves to be treated with respect and dignity!"

From the way both Superman and Batman choked that was the last thing they wanted to hear. Superman actually started hovering a little bit as if he wanted to fly away. Conner, on the other hand, couldn't help the tiny glow of joy that someone considered him to be a son and not a mistake. After all the years in the orphanage it was wonderful to hear. The way Batman glared at Lex made Conner frown, though.

There was a lot more than just friendship in that glare. Conner had to admit that it reminded him a lot of the complicated knot of feelings he had for Tim, the ones that he hadn't been brave enough to admit yet. Superman's expression as he battled with Lex was equally suggestive of hidden (or maybe not so hidden) romantic feelings that had been thwarted a long time ago. The three of them kind of reminded Conner of the messy romantic triangle one of the jocks had had with two of the cheerleaders last year. That was a horrifying enough thought that Conner shuddered.

He poked Tim in the shoulder, doing it again when Tim didn't immediately respond. Tim was too focused on Superman yelling about how evil Lex's actions had been while Lex threw up his hands at the accusations as if he'd never heard anything more ridiculous in his life. It took Colin tugging on his cape for Tim to turn away and face Conner again.

"Um, were they, like, a couple, Dude?" Conner asked.

"Lex and Superman?" Tim asked. He sighed when Conner nodded. "From what I've been able to discover, more than likely, yes."

Conner nodded while watching Batman glare death at Lex. "And um, are Superman and Batman a couple now?"

Both Tim and Mercy choked on that one. Their reactions made Conner stare at them in turn while Colin started giggling. Behind Mercy, Hope was staring at Conner as if she couldn't believe that he'd actually said it out loud. Fortunately, it didn't look like Superman, Batman or Lex heard him because Conner sort of thought that suggesting it might get him killed. Mercy's horrified expression made that seem quite possible.

"Ah, not that I've found proof of," Tim said in such a hesitant tone of voice that Conner, Colin, Mercy and Hope all stared at him. He blushed, fussing with Colin's shirt. "I mean, no? Maybe? I don't know?"

"Dude," Conner groaned.

He did it loud enough to break into Superman and Lex's argument. They stopped to stare at Conner who just shook his head at them while putting his hands on his hips. Batman's glare was pretty intimidating but Conner ignored it in favor of glaring at his two dads and that wasn't a thought he'd ever believed likely. Lex frowned, looking concerned. Superman hovered for a moment longer before landing to stare at Conner with a somewhat reluctantly concerned expression.

"You are not arguing over me," Conner announced. He held one hand up when both Lex and Superman tried to protest that. "No. You're arguing over your bad breakup. And because my second dad got involved with Batman."

All three of the adults stared at him, Superman blushing so brightly that Conner knew exactly where he'd gotten that trait. Batman looked away, his shoulders shifting as if he wanted to run away but wouldn't allow himself to do it. Lex just looked like someone had sucker punched him.

"Well, keep it down," Conner declared. "It's almost Colin's bedtime. After everything that's happened today he needs his sleep. Keep it down all the time, will you? I mean, really, if you guys do this all the time it's totally going to ruin both of our sleep. Either way, we're going to go get hot chocolate before bed. You guys can have your yelling match if you want but quit fooling yourselves that it's me you're arguing about."

"He kept you away from me," Superman said, voice and expression so hurt that Conner actually believed him.

"I had no idea where Conner was," Lex snapped. "I've told you that and told you that. I only found out because of Robin's investigative work. I may, ah, have put tracers on some of the files associated with Conner's creation in the hopes of tracking down his location eventually."

Lex shrugged at the ferocious glare Batman leveled at him. Conner nodded slowly. So Lex probably did know Tim's real identity, not that it mattered right now. Rather than let them start up again, Conner whistled and waved his hands to get their attention.

"Cocoa," Conner said. "It's been a long few days. I think we deserve cocoa. Lex, I'm going to need to talk to Superman eventually. He should be able to help me learn to use all these powers I'm developing. Superman, you might think about actually looking at the data Robin gathered. I know Lionel didn't try and break me out of the transport trucks, not if he created me."

"He did create you," Batman growled.

"Well, did you try and free me?" Conner asked Superman.

"Um, no," Superman admitted. "I didn't find out about you until well after you'd disappeared."

"Okay, then," Conner said, turning to stare at Lex who blushed slowly from his neckline all the way up over his scalp. "There's only one other person who would have attacked the trucks and that's Lex. You might talk about what happened and how I got away instead of yelling at each other."

"While we have cocoa?" Colin asked, tugging Conner's sleeve excitedly. "With marshmallows? Can we have marshmallows, too?"

"While we have cocoa with marshmallows," Conner agreed.

Conner ignored all three adults' spluttering as he plucked Colin from Tim's arms. Tim came with them, Hope trailing at their heels while Mercy stayed behind to protect Lex. The voices that followed Conner and Tim into the kitchen were still raised but they didn't have the same level of anger and hurt as before. Sure they still sounded angry, but not as bad as before so maybe things would improve on that front. The cocoa in Lex's kitchen was the super nice, really expensive variety that you heated milk for. When Tim and Conner immediately started making a mess of the kitchen trying to figure out how to heat it, Hope took the cooking duties away from them. Colin ended up in Conner's lap, clinging just like he always did when something threatened to take him away from what he loved or when confronted with one of his phobias.

"Hey," Tim said.

"Yeah?" Conner asked.

"Are you really okay with this?" Tim asked.

Conner looked around the expensive, very clean kitchen. It was huge enough to cook for the entire orphanage but three times more modern than anything they'd had. Lex's penthouse was clean, safe and it looked like Lex actually wanted them there. In the distance he could hear his two dads fighting over him. He sighed, smiled at Colin and then smiled at Hope as she brought three mugs of hot cocoa over for them. There were marshmallows in the mug, more for Colin than for Tim or Conner but that was fine. Colin loved marshmallows and rarely got them.

"Yeah," Conner said after a moment. "This is really weird and I want to know just what Lionel was up to when he made me but… yeah. I think I'm okay with it, two dads and all."

The End


End file.
